Friday, October 19, 2012

Rodriguez said general manager Dave Dombrowski told him they were trying to put a winning team together, and they did.

“I signed, you know, Magglio signed, Magglio Ordoñez signed,” Rodriguez said. “They got a trade for (Carlos) Guillen to the ballclub and (Miguel) Cabrera. And you can see the results right now. The way the team plays right now, came in the World Series, we after two years, you know, ’06 we were in the World Series like Dave told me. And after that, everything was history. The team becomes a winning team, always in the pennant race. And that’s the reason that they play so well right now.”

While Ilitch has won multiple Stanley Cups as owner of the Red Wings, his Tigers have not won the World Series.

“He’s been a sport fan, you know, for a long, long time, him and his family,” Rodriguez said. “And I think it’s time for him, you know. I think it’s the year for him to have a World Series trophy in his hands. I think it’s going to be great for him..… He is going to feel very good about that and his family and all the work, all of the hard work that they have done, you know, since a long time ago, a long time ago with their group of people, you know, (Al) Avila, Dombrowski, all of the guys in the front office. They do hard work to become the organization and the team that they have on the field right now, He deserves to be a world champion.”

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“I signed, you know, Magglio signed, Magglio Ordoñez signed,” Rodriguez said. “They got a trade for (Carlos) Guillen to the ballclub and (Miguel) Cabrera. And you can see the results right now. The way the team plays right now, came in the World Series, we after two years, you know, ’06 we were in the World Series like Dave told me. And after that, everything was history. The team becomes a winning team, always in the pennant race. And that’s the reason that they play so well right now.”

You don't have to use every word a guy says, especially the "you knows."

But it's kind of rare that an ex-player is extolling the virtues of the owner, though not terribly surprising in this case. All things considered, Illitch has to be among the absolute best in the game to play for.

Ilitch wants to win and has no personal whimsies or hangups that get in the way of that mission. Though it took awhile with the Tigers, he's excellent at identifying top-level GM and personnel people and giving them what they need to succeed. He doesn't care about bringing "stars" or names to the team, unless he and his people think they'll contribute to winning. Nor does he care much about squeezing dollars out of his sports businesses. He's almost the perfect owner, as almost all Red Wing/Tiger fans will attest.

I don't live in Detroit so I don't hear much about Ilitch. But he looked very frail and shaky during the presentation yesterday. Have there been stories published about his health?

None that I've seen. I do live here now, and I'll confess to being surprised by how he looked yesterday. I don't know if it's just that you rarely see shots of him outside of the box, but I hadn't gotten the impression of such fragility before.

And he really is a great owner, even moreso now that he seems to be in full legacy mode. His brief attempt to buy the Pistons and move them downtown was an inspired piece of irrationality. He really has done a lot to try and revitalize the downtown areas.

3 - Ilitch became "almost the perfect owner" only when the NHL lockout occurred. The result of the lockout was that expenditures were held down, helping out the smaller markets, but allowing the bigger markets (Detroit) to roll around in money they pretty much weren't allowed to spend. Ilitch makes a pile of money on the Red Wings that gets funneled straight to the Tigers. Even if I weren't a fan of a team competing against the Tigers, I'd question how much MLB really wants the equivalent of an oil billionaire buying a European soccer team. Ilitch has a cartel on hockey in one of the most NHL-crazy towns, and the result is that the Tigers never have to be able to balance their books.

Edit - To add, the last eight years, since 2005, the Tigers have always been top-half of the league payroll-wise, averaging 8th. The previous eight years, Ilitch's Tigers averaged 22nd in payroll, and were top-half of the league spenders just once. Kudos to Ilitch for not just funding his grandkids' retirement account, but that wallet didn't open until the NHL lockout.

Ilitch has a cartel on hockey in one of the most NHL-crazy towns, and the result is that the Tigers never have to be able to balance their books.

Well, in fairness, there's a pile of MLB owners who are billionaires and don't really need to be terribly concerned if their baseball team loses $10M-$20M a year.

In Ilitch's division alone, the Dolans are worth ~$3B and Jim Pohlad is worth $1.1B, according to Forbes. David Glass's net worth is harder to pin down, but he was worth ~$350M more than ten years ago and has made at least a quarter-billion dollars on the value of the Royals franchise alone. If he's not a billionaire, he's not far away.

The Indians, Twins, and Royals have the money to compete, it's just that their owners choose not to. It's a business for them, and it's a source of civic pride for Ilitch. I admire the hell out of that. I don't particularly like the Tigers, but I'm off-the-charts jealous of the owner they've got.

9 - Ilitch is worth $2.7 billion. And Charles Dolan, not Larry, is the one worth $3 billion. His son James is squandering a good part of that on the Knicks. I'm sure Larry (the Indians' owner) is far from broke, but he's not in the same ballpark as his brother and Ilitch.

You don't have to use every word a guy says, especially the "you knows."

This is probably worth keeping in mind the next time we have a semi-serious debate about what was replaced by an ellipsis in a quote.

The Indians, Twins, and Royals have the money to compete, it's just that their owners choose not to. It's a business for them, and it's a source of civic pride for Ilitch. I admire the hell out of that.